The present invention relates to a novel bleaching composition for house cleaning or, more particularly, to a bleaching composition for house cleaning having excellent bleaching activity but free from the problem due to an unpleasant irritative odor as is unavoidable, for example, in conventional chlorine-generating bleaching compositions.
It is a very troublesome work in daily housekeeping to ensure perfect cleanness in and around various wet and watery places within and around the house where large volumes of water are frequently used such as bathrooms, bathtubs, washstands, water closets, kitchen sinks and the like because the surfaces of the walls there or the sanitary wares used there are heavily stained by organic materials originating in the molds growing on the surface or water-insoluble inorganic materials deposited thereon while it is extremely difficult to completely remove these moldy and water-insoluble stain materials by using a conventional house-cleaning detergent composition containing a surface active agent as the principal ingredient. Accordingly, it is an established way of house cleaning that cleanness of the stained surfaces within and around houses is obtained by using a bleaching composition including chlorine-generating and oxygenic ones so as to completely remove the stain by the bleaching effect thereof.
One of the serious problems in the bleaching compositions comprising a chlorine-generating compound such as sodium hypochlorite as the principal ingredient is that, although such bleaching compositions exhibit an excellent stain-removing effect, they are very detrimental against human body or, in particular, against eyes and skins if not to mention the unpleasant irritative odor of chlorine so that it is essential to use such a chlorine-generating bleaching composition under strong ventilation. In particular, these bleaching compositions have a danger that very toxic chlorine gas is evolved when a chlorine-generating bleaching composition is brought into contact with an acidic detergent.
On the other hand, those bleaching compositions comprising an oxygenic compound typically exemplified by hydrogen peroxide as the principal ingredient are safe from the problem of chlorine gas evolution but their bleaching activity is not always high enough when they are used alone so that various proposals and attempts have been made heretofore for the combined use of an oxygenic bleaching compound with a bleaching activator (see, for example, Japanese Patent Kokai 60-1299, 62-4794, 2-196896 and 3-121200).
Among the bleaching activators proposed heretofore, however, those from which peracetic acid and the like as the active bleaching species are produced emit a strong irritative odor so that they can hardly be used practically for house cleaning. On the other hand, bleaching activators not responsible for the emission of an irritative odor have problems because the stain-removing activity obtained therewith is usually so low or they are so expensive that they are not under wide practical applications for the purpose of house cleaning.